My Final MBA Thoughts

Here are a few of my parting MBA thoughts for anyone thinking about taking an MBA.

1. The Merage School is a top notch MBA program for Marketing, Finance, Strategy, Real Estate, and Information Technology Management, but I think the big differentiator is how it exposes students to concepts of Strategic Innovation. Strategic Innovation adds an entire new dimension to an MBA education that will grow in demand as companies mature.
2. Work a few years before pursuing an MBA. I see a trend of many students jumping from undergrad to the MBA. I may be biased here, but a great deal of the MBA learning experience is translating the lessons into previous work experiences. I believe this enriches your learning experience and adds value to your investment.
3. If you have a specific company you want to work for after your MBA make sure they regularly visit your selected school. I am not saying it is impossible to work for them if they do not, but it will present you with many more opportunities.
4. Your MBA program is a 21 month job interview. Everything you do in this program will be remembered by your classmates who will be one of your most valuable assets in your career. So to make the most of this experience, you must always represent yourself with integrity, motivation, and respect. If you are not ready, then do yourself a favor and wait until you are ready.
   
5. Be prepared to work more than you are used to. Days, nights, weekends are more than cell phone plan terms. This will not be like your undergrad.
   
6. Prioritize. At times you will be overwhelmed with the work. Your key will be identifying what work will give you the greatest return.
   
7. You will learn much more than your brain can absorb. I still have a wealth of lessons floating around in my brain, waiting to processed and categorized. I hope to be able to do this before I start working, but I doubt it.
8. Extra-curricular activities are just as important as the academics. I think this hard for some internationals to understand, but in a U.S. program these extra-curricular activities are incredibly important because 1) they are great opportunities to network and bond with other students; and 2) recruiters look at these to see that you exposed yourself to experiences beyond the classroom and use them as great interview questions.
   
9. Get to know your classmates. This should go without saying to an MBA applicant, but there will be students who you will rarely see in your program. In my opinion, this is a waste of an MBA education (you should be seeing a theme here that the true value of an MBA is outside of the academics). You will forget most of your class lessons; you will never forget the classmates who shared the experience and invested themselves in getting to know you.
10. Get to know your teachers. This is an area of weakness for myself, but your teachers can be great resources to you in your career. Build a great relationship with them now, in order to make it easier to contact them in the future.
    
11. Orange County is a pretty nice place to go back to school.

That's it for my nuggets of wisdom. I am glad to discover that a few people found value from this blog in making their own MBA decision. I want to thank people for their compliments and comments. I enjoyed sharing my experiences.